Echoes From the Campfire

[Don Adkisson]

     "Campfires are about the nicest things there are. They add a lot to makin' the uncomfortable...comfortable.”
               --Lou Bradshaw (Agular)

     "The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever."
               --Isaiah 32:17 (NKJV)
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Are you saved? I mean, do you actually know and are assured that if the trumpet should sound and Christ return for His Church that you would go in the throng? Are you saved? Then first of all, if you cannot answer that question, now is the time to do so. Repent and get right with God for you never know the hour of His coming, or the hour of your death.

     We do not "feel" saved, though at times there may come that wonderful movement down in our souls. Feelings are nice and fine, but they do not mean we are saved or not saved. The words of Fanny Crosby's hymn ring in my mind:

          "Blessed assurance, Jesus in mine!
          Oh what a foretaste of glory divine!
          Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
          Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood."

     There is that "blessed assurance" exclamation mark! But let's look a little further at our assurance.
First, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him" (John 3:36, NASB). On the day we accept Jesus as the Son of God, that He died on the cross and rose the third day, we have assurance. God cannot lie, we are saved.
Look at your life. There you will see the second assurance of your salvation. As we are attached to the true Vine we should begin to bear fruit. We should begin to see the Fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-24). Our attachment to this world will begin to diminish. We will begin to long for the things of God. People around us will notice a difference and if will cause them to react.

     The third way that we know the "blessed assurance" is found in Romans 8:16, "The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God." (NASB) What is this assurance? "It is the fact that somewhere deep inside of us, we who have accepted Jesus as our Savior--at times it is as wonderful as the rolling sea--somewhere, deep inside of each of us, there is the witness of the Holy Spirit to our own spirit that we are the children of God." (Francis A. Schaeffer)

     Let me not stop there for assuredly there are times when we are broken, when we don't "feel" the witness of the Holy Spirit. "When we're broken, when we have fallen into sin, when Satan our adversary has beaten us again, sometimes this third assurance becomes feeble indeed. At such times, we can go back to the great objective promises." (Francis A. Schaeffer) What are those promises? Look back at the first two assurances. This is the time when faith comes into play--we must rest assured in the fact that we are saved because the Word of God declares that we are.

     When we live in the confidence of His Word, when we rest in the promises and faithfulness of God we can then continue on and live in "blessed assurance.

          "This is my story, this is my song,
          Praising my Savior all the day long;
          This is my story, this is my song,
          Praising my Savior all the day long."

     Live in the assurance that you belong to Him. Then begin to be thankful, begin to praise Him, and be glad that you have the bless assurance.

D.C. Adkisson